Los Alamos National Laboratory Support for Domestic 99 Mo Production - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Los Alamos National Laboratory Support for Domestic 99 Mo Production Gregory E. Dale 2017 99 Mo Topical Meeting Montreal, Quebec, Canada September 13, 2017 Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA LA-UR-17-28212

LANL Support for Domestic 99 Mo Production  As part of the NNSA Material Management and Minimization (M 3 ) Program, LANL is supporting: – Shine Medical Technologies with the production of fission product 99 Mo from a DT accelerator driven subcritical uranium salt solution. – NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes with the electron accelerator production of 99 Mo from 100 Mo( γ ,n) 99 Mo. Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA LA-UR-17-28212

SHINE Medical Technologies Production Overview SHINE Medical Technologies will produce fission product 99 Mo in a subcritical accelerator driven low enriched uranium salt solution. In FY17 LANL has been supporting SHINE in the development of coupled thermal hydraulics and neutron transport modeling. Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA LA-UR-17-28212

Coupled Neutron Transport/ CFD Modeling MCNP neutron transport for fission rate CFD Model for flow D-T neutron (power and gas velocity, temperature production generation (density) and void profiles) profile Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA LA-UR-17-28212

Coupled Modeling Iteration Loop 7 MCNP 6 (Energy deposition) System power [KW] 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 Steady state Iterative coupled calculation loop # system condition analysis 80 70 Operating Temperature [C] 60 50 40 30 20 M-CFD 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 (Temp. Void profile) Iterative coupled calculation loop # (updated density) Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA LA-UR-17-28212

Coupled Modeling Results Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA LA-UR-17-28212

Supo “Super-Power” Thermal Modeling • 45 kW water boiler reactor – Uranyl-nitrate solution – Operated from 1951 to 1974 – Used for neutron research – Contained water-cooled spiral coils to maintain desired operating temperatures • Multiphase steady state CFD simulations using ANSYS Fluent – 2-D axisymmetric model – Modeled natural convective heat transfer of solution • Assumed laminar flow – Gaussian power deposition profile – Radiolytic gas bubble generation (H2+02) proportional to power deposition • Rising bubbles enhance fluid motion and heat transfer Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA LA-UR-17-28212

SUPO Modeling Results • Simulation vs. past experiment data Steady state • Heat Transfer Coefficient (HTC) temperature profile – Under predicted HTC of highest of 3.05 kW/L (40 power by 40% kW) reactor – Over predicted HTC of lowest power by 479% Max temp. = • Avg. Solution Temperature 96.18°C – Over predicted temp. at highest power by 8.6°C 5000 4500 – Under predicted temp. at lowest Free-Conv HTC [W/m 2 -K] 4000 Group A Experiment power by 25.4°C 3500 Group B Experiment 3000 • Future Work Group C Experiment 2500 Bunker Experiment – Assume turbulent flow at high 2000 Group A Simulation 1500 powers Group B Simulation 1000 – Assume laminar flow at low powers Group C Simulation 500 0 Bunker Simulation – Remove radiolytic bubbles at low 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 Power Density [kW/L] powers Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA LA-UR-17-28212

NorthStar Electron Accelerator Production 2.5 150 σ ( γ ,n) 2 flux (10 11 γ /cm 2 /s/ µ A) cross section (mb) 100 1.5 1  The NorthStar process uses an 50 electron accelerator to create a high flux of bremsstrahlung 0.5 35 MeV 42 MeV 20 MeV photons in enriched 100 Mo targets to create 99 Mo through the 0 0 photonuclear reaction 0 10 20 30 40 100 Mo( γ ,n) 99 Mo. energy (MeV) – Reaction threshold is 9 MeV. Average bremsstrahlung photon – Peak cross section is 150 mb at spectra produced with 20, 35, and 42 14.5 MeV. MeV electron beams in a Mo target  We are exploring electron beams compared to the photonuclear cross in the 35-42 MeV range. section of 100 Mo. Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA LA-UR-17-28212

29 mm Target System for Testing at ANL A larger diameter target will be needed for production at the beam powers being considered. The new target design also varies the target disk thickness, which creates a more even power profile through the length of the target. Peak Window and Target Disk Temperature: 35 MeV @ 285 psi Inlet ( ṁ = 0.116 kg/s) 600 500 Peak Temperature, K 400 300 200 100 0 W 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Front Window and Target Disks Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA LA-UR-17-28212

LANL 29 mm Diameter Mo Target for Testing at ANL Target Side View Helium cooling lines Beam Target window Lead Shielding Components inside vacuum Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA LA-UR-17-28212

29 mm Target Installed at ANL Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA LA-UR-17-28212

29 mm Target 29 mm Targets before irradiation Target consisting of 29 mm diameter disks with 0.5 mm cooling gaps. Five Coolant View Beam View disks are 1 mm thick, three are 1.5 mm thick, and two are 2 mm thick. Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA LA-UR-17-28212

29 mm Target with Lead Shielding Thermal test performed on August 18. Results currently being analyzed. Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA LA-UR-17-28212

Resistively Heated Target Experiments Thermocouple wires Heater wires Heaters (7) Each of the 7 heaters can generate ~ 1 kW and has an embedded thermocouple. Each heater is 2.5 mm thick. There is a 0.7 mm cooling gap between heaters. Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA LA-UR-17-28212

Resistively Heated Target Testing on the Helium Flow Loop  The resistively heated target will be installed for testing on the prototype helium flow loop at LANL.  We are also continuing our long duration flow tests on this system, having recently started our third 7-week continuous run Resistively test this FY. heated target Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA LA-UR-17-28212

OTR/IR Coupon Testing  Test the performance of coated and uncoated Inconel mock windows in beam with our Optical Transition Radiation (OTR) and Infrared (IR) diagnostics. Inconel mock Uncoated Inconel window coated mock window with very high temperature (VHT) thermal paint. Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA LA-UR-17-28212

Mock Window Testing Results at 35 MeV Coated Uncoated Remaining work: • In-situ IR Calibration OTR • Longevity studies on the coating. IR Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA LA-UR-17-28212

Summary  LANL is partnering closely with NNSA and the other National Laboratories to help develop the commercial domestic production of 99 Mo without the use of HEU.  Under the M 3 99 Mo Program, we are currently supporting SHINE Medical Technologies and NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes.  Leveraging the unique capabilities of the National Laboratories to facilitate the domestic production of 99 Mo. Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA LA-UR-17-28212